Using a national sample of about 1,600 adults ages 18-59 in romantic relationships, the researchers, Brad Wilcox of the University of Virginia and Nicholas H. Wolfinger of the University of Utah, found that shared religious attendance and a man’s religious attendance are associated with higher relationship quality.

Seventy-eight percent of couples that reported shared religious attendance reported they were “very happy” or “extremely happy” with their relationship. In couples where only the man attends regularly, the same percentage, 78 percent, reported they were very or extremely happy.

Just 67 percent of couples where neither attends church report they are very or extremely happy in relationships. Couples were least likely to report relationship satisfaction when only the woman attends church regularly—just 59 percent.

Wilcox and Wolfinger suggest that the difference in satisfaction levels among couples where only the man attends church and couples where only the woman attends church could be because “men are especially likely to benefit from the normative and practical emphasis that religious institutions tend to put on family life and marital fidelity, insofar as men typically devote less time and attention to family life than women, and are more likely than them to be unfaithful. In other words, religious services may be particularly effective in turning the hearts and minds of men towards their partner’s welfare and the relationship more generally.”

Why is relationship happiness more likely to occur with joint church attendance? The researchers suggest that sharing friends in religious congregations as well as praying together is important for relationship quality.

[M]en and women who have more than half of their friends at the same religious congregation are about 11 percentage points more likely to report they are very happy in their relationships than those who do not,” the researchers note. “Enjoying shared friendships in a religious congregation may boost relationship quality by giving such couples a sense of belonging and community, as well as other models of successful relationships.

Praying together is even more strongly liked to relationship satisfaction than is attending church together:

[M]en and women who report praying together frequently (almost once a week or more often) are 17 percentage points more likely to say they are very happy together. Joint prayer is likely to engender a heightened sense of emotional intimacy, communication and reflection about relationship priorities and concerns, and a sense of divine involvement in one’s relationship.

In fact, shared prayer was a stronger predictor of relationship quality than all other factors measured in the study, including the education and age of couples.

All things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator. ~Alma 30:44

God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; For in him we live, and move, and have our being; … for we are also his offspring. ~Saint Paul, Acts 17: 24,28

There is a God, and he hath created all things. ~2 Nephi 2:14

Darwin was aware of gaps in his theory. . . Even Darwin recognized his life’s work as a theory and left the door ajar. ~Keith Merrill

Evolution has a lot of holes filled with Silly Putty, but the one gaping wound they cannot hide is the Moral Law. ~Keith Merrill

Charles Darwin loved his wife and children. He paid his taxes and never kicked his dog. But Charles Darwin had a big idea, and ideas have consequences. ~movie: ”What Hath Darwin Wrought?”